The sixth annual census is out. There should be a link here somewhere or on the FFXI main page. That should give you an idea of who is where. I really don't know of any servers that are not populated. I think the choice is between heavily populated so that the is more ppl, but more competition and more of all the drama that entails, or more medium population density where the competition isn't as bad, but there also might not be as many ppl to party with, etc. Your choice. Linkshells should be fairly easy to come by. The main thing is, you will start getting linkshell invites as soon as you start partying. You might not get any invites while soloing that first 10 levels, but once you get into your first party, the offers should start flowing in. Then it's just a matter of finding one that fits you. Good luck on your search. I know of a fairly decent social shell on Pandy for beginners called Reveriesclan. Fairly small, but with a bunch of nice helpful ppl. I was fairly regular there, but have switched to an end game shell. I still check in there from time to time though.

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